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4.a) Fire Department Hiring Process Meeting Date: 2/14/2012 Agenda Item: �� � City Council Agenda Report City of Scandia 14727 209�' St. North Scandia, MN 55073 (651) 433-2274 Action Requested: None—Receive a briefing on issues concerning the Fire Department's upcoming hiring process. Action items will be scheduled for the February 21, 2012 regular meeting. Deadline/ Timeline: Proposed timeline: • February 21—Council action on proposed policy and job description changes, authorize advertisement • February 24 to March 30—accept applications • Apri14/5—Review applications • April 18/19—Interviews Round One • Apri121—Physical testing • May 9/10—Interviews Round Two; make conditional offers • May 15—Appointment(s)by City Council • June 2—Start date Background: • The number of paid-on-call volunteer firefighters has been reduced due to several retirements since new members were last added in 2010. The Department would like to bring on a class of up to six new members for training in 2012. • The Chief has proposed a hiring process similar to what was used in 2010. Prior to advertising for new members, there are several issues that the Fire Deparhnent wishes to discuss with the Council: o The Fire Department Operational Policy requires a 24- month probationary period for new firefighters. The Department would like to reduce this to 12 months. o The position descriptions for all firefighting jobs (from Probationary Firefighter to Chie�require that they reside or are employed within a fifteen (15)minute response time to the City of Scandia Fire Station. The Department would like to reduce this response time to eight (8) minutes. o The last hiring process incorporated City Council HR Committee member participation in the first round of interviews and in the determination of conditional offers to be made to the candidates. The Council should discuss Page 1 of 2 02/09/12 how it wishes to participate in the hiring process in 2012. Recommendation: I recommend that the Council discuss the issues identified for the Firefighter hiring process, above. Based on the discussion at the work session, specific action items (such as approval of changes to the Fire Department Operational Policy and the job descriptions, and authorization to advertise for applicants) will be brought to the Council for action at the next regular meeting (February 21, 2012.) Attachments/ • None Materials provided: Contact(s): Jim Finnegan, Fire Chief(651 755-8675) Prepared by: Anne Hurlburt, Administrator (FD Hiring Issues) Page 2 of 2 02/09/12